MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks

Anti/Epitaph

MJ Lenderman's fourth studio album Manning Fireworks is choc-a-bloc with off-centred songs, an abundance of guitar-parts which hide their melodious qualities in plain sight and lyrics which convey the common man's gripe with the everyday. A person's energy comes through in that which they make - MJ Lenderman is a funny character, a rather quirky individual.

Manning Fireworks opens on the words: 'Birds against a heavy wind that wins in the end.' Efforts against the grain. Fighting an uphill battle. A complete waste of time but a complete test of character. In it for the thrill. Failure's just another thing to do, to be. All is not lost - more is gained. Failure forms an infinite amount of 'other' to succeed in, but maybe not life. 

A song which is straight from the heart is followed up by a song about a wristwatch which doubles-up as a phone and compass. MJ is nicely unpredictable. I guess MJ doesn't write in a convoluted way. The songs are about what they're about: modern living, heartbreak, hill-starts hell-bent on killing you. My introduction to Lenderman, 2022's Boat Songs, ran in a similar fashion. He bought fake Jordans, they weren't even shoes. Lovely little lyrical trinkets lace the music. Depending on how you interpret them, they're heavily existential or completely weightless.  

He holds his Bud Lights with heavy hands; grips with featherweight fingers. Things slip and slither away. The cracks in between your fingers become crevices. Time erodes us all. 

I love the ending of the album. "Bark at the Moon" ends on a six-or-so-minute sonic wash out. A scathing cleanse to ease the warm, greasy angst. A scrub-down to remove the dirt gathered along the way. 

Falls apart, we've all got work to do.